By: Jamie Baxter
Congress is now starting the budget and appropriations process for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013. The House and Senate are both circulating "dear colleague" sign-on letters which ask other Members of Congress to add their signatures to support an investment in Perkins funding. The House letter is led by the Congressional CTE Caucus co-chairs, Reps. Thompson (R-PA) and Langevin (D-RI), and the Senate letter is led by Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT). Once signatures are collected, the letters will be sent to the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittees in the House and Senate.
The more signatures the letters have, the more likely that the Appropriations Committee will consider restoring Perkins funds back to FY 2010 levels. Please contact your representatives and senators and ask that they sign the letters to support CTE funding.
Action Needed:
- Call your representative and senators and ask to speak to the education staff member; if unavailable, leave a detailed message. You can reach your Members of Congress by calling the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
- When calling your senators, ask that they support funding for CTE by signing the letter being circulated by Sen. Blumenthal.
- When calling your representative, ask that they support CTE funding by signing the letter being circulated by Reps. Thompson and Langevin.
- Thank the staff for his or her time and take this opportunity to talk about your CTE program.
It is crucial that we get as many Members of Congress as possible to show wide support for CTE. Please pass this alert on to others, including businesses, alumni, teachers and local policymakers, and encourage them to call Members of Congress. The House letter will continue to collect signatures until Friday, March 16 and the Senate letter will collect signatures until March 23.
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